You have the wrong number

Fr Thomas Seungwon Nam at the airport of  Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. Photo: Fr Thomas Seungwon Nam SSC

Fr Thomas Seungwon Nam at the airport of  Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. Photo: Fr Thomas Seungwon Nam SSC 

In 1999 I was on my First Mission Assignment in Peru when I had to renew my South Korean passport. The secretary assisting me did not distinguish the South Korean Embassy from the North Korean Embassy. By mistake, she called the North Korean Embassy and handed the phone to me. Here I was for the first time in my life speaking to a North Korean!

The North Korean Embassy staff member said she was used to South Korean people mistaking the embassies. My hand was shaking as I realized I was talking to one of those communist North Koreans we South Koreans had been taught to fear and hate and disbelieve! I stayed on the phone but I felt like I was committing a crime!

The North Korean Embassy staff member continued her friendly conversation saying: “It is a pity that there are two Korean embassies here just like the reality of our two countries on the Korean Peninsula.” At that time, in South America, many countries had established diplomatic relations with North Korea earlier than with South Korea. But she also mentioned the possibility of a reunification of the Koreas.

After this dramatic experience with the North Korean Embassy in Lima, Peru, I began to be much more conscious of the North Korean people and to wonder how they were coping with the division of our country. It was the beginning of a change in my attitude to the people of North Korea and an opening up of space for them in my world. I began to see them as fellow human beings sharing much of our traditional Korean culture and I began to look for opportunities to learn what I could do about their situation and to come in contact with them.

After the completion of my First Mission Assignment in Peru, I began studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and had some involvement with the Korean Catholic parish there which was served by Irish Columban Fr John Smith.

A family in that parish had been appointed to help a young North Korean man who had filed for refugee status. He had earlier worked at a Russian logging camp before making his way to the USA where he lived with a Korean Catholic family in the parish. I often went to visit them, but I could not talk to the young man who was very wary of me. However, the family were able to tell me his story which opened my eyes to the struggle and suffering of the people of North Korea.

I heard stories of North Koreans escaping by various routes to China or Russia and heard of others who had died when drowning in the Yalu and Tumen Rivers in their attempts to escape from North Korea. I also heard stories of many North Koreans being exploited by many brokers and others in China and elsewhere. Gradually I felt concern for the plight of these fellow Koreans and a desire to befriend them and be interested in their pastoral care.

Back in Korea, in 2015, the Committee for Reconciliation/Peace was launched at the Conference of Major Superiors of Korean Men's Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life. In the fall of that year, I participated in a tour of the North Korean and Chinese border regions. Then in the following year, the Korean Region of our St Columban's Mission Society began an official North Korean ministry with the name of 'Peace Pastoral'.

I am currently registered as a North Korean Refugee Resettlement aid worker at the North Hana Centre, helping male refugees. Hanawon has been established by the Korean Ministry for Unification to help North Korean refugees prepare for permanent settlement in South Korean society. It is a venue for various events and programs that introduce South Korean culture and religious customs and practices to refugees from the North. Representatives of several Catholic Religious Orders volunteer at the Centre, sometimes celebrating Mass there. Other churches and Buddhist monks and nuns also participate and provide services. Some of our Columban benefactors have participated by hosting visits of North Korean refugees to their homes.

A significant occasion for Columban participants in this ministry was a Mass for Peace and Reconciliation on the Korean peninsula offered in our chapel at the Columban Mission Centre in Seoul. This chapel commemorates the seven Columban Missionaries and several army chaplains who were martyred during the Korean War.

Although the reality is that the Korean peninsula is two countries divided by a demilitarised zone and occupied by huge opposing armies, in another sense, we are one people and we can dream. In the meantime, it is satisfying that we in the South can reach out as people of faith to meet and accompany the North Korean refugees. We continue to pray and work for reconciliation and healing.

Columban Fr Thomas Seungwon Nam lives and works in Seoul, South Ko-rea.

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